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About The Author

Ralph Maughan

Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is President of the Western Watersheds Project.

10 Responses to Mountain lion confirmed in Missouri

What got my attention in this article was not about the cougar sighting but–for the first time–learning that “hunters” are using trip cameras to locate trophy bucks. Disgusting! Now that technology allows humans to “see in the dark”, I assume that poaching of wildlife during the night will increase. And whatever other technology becomes available will be used to gain an advantage in killing of wildlife. What a world!

Maybe not, dcookie. I think Mo. has a larger population than authorities let on. I know too many people that have seen another cat in an unnamed county. They’ve been seeing at least one individual for 5 or 6 years now.

I’ve seen tracks near the Little Blue bottoms in Jackson county for more than 5 years now. There is also alot of turkey and deer there as well, so they have lots of things to prey on. These animals are obviously capitalizing on the burgeoning deer population in Missouri.

Monty…you’re an idiot. Those cameras have been around for years. You’re obviously not a hunter or you would know that the remote cameras are not and cannot be used for poaching. They simply tell hunters what deer are moving in an area. Deer are easy to kill. I could stack them up 10 feet deep with an old shot gun. Trophy deer on the other hand are HARD to kill. That’s what hunters are after, not Bambi. The best thing that EVER happened to white tailed deer was hunters. They put BILLIONS into conservation. There wouldn’t be any deer if it weren’t for hunters. Ask your local wildlife biologist or conservation officer if you don’t believe it.

Well, Jimbo, I’m glad SOMEBODY has a good estimate of the MO cougar population. 😉

Looking at the deer and turkey populations there, it’s evident that cats have plenty to eat. So it makes sense that they’re there, and that sightings and other evidence (eg., the dead one on 1-35 within the KC metro area) are increasing. There are turkeys and deer within the city limits of KC now, so there could be several cats lurking around, too.

And then I hear credible reports from rural, whitetail-rich counties near the Iowa line, too. I have to conclude that they’re fairly widespread and there’s more out there than the occasional disperser from the west.

Considering that probably only some percentage of the state’s cougar population is getting run over or being seen, it could amount to a fairly robust population. They are secretive and alert.

I have lived around southwest Montana/northwest Wyoming for 15 years and had my first cat sighting this April. And I know from the houndsmen here that there are actually quite a few in the neighborhood, yet it took me 15 years and a lot of time afield to ever see one. Could be there’s a fair number of them in Missouri, I think.

With 80,000 deer-vehicle collisions per year in that state, having something to thin them out would be a good thing. My grandma wishes somebody WOULD whack-em-&-stack-em 10 feet deep on her farm there.

Um, John, being from Missouri, I have to point out that my native state imposed a constitutionally-mandated sales tax (on EVERYTHING, not just sporting goods) to fund conservation in 1976. Deer were still a little rare back then, and turkeys were almost unheard of.

Missouri’s wildlife success is something that all citizens can take credit for. I hunt, too, but I give credit where it belongs. (And I’d rather have a tasty little doe in the freezer any day over some rank old buck).

7-19-07 I live in the Perry County, Missouri area and I have seen a large wild cat, possibly a cougar Tuesday and Wednesday evening on my farm. My horses were spooked by it. I am looking for any information of any other sightings close to my area. I also would like to know if the wild cats often stay in the same area for long periods or do they tend to move on. My daughter and I seen one on our farm 3 years ago. It was at the pond and we were approx. 5 ft from it. Any information would be appreciated.

my dad lives about a hour south of where this picture was taken and just last week our neighbors took a picture of a big cat using a trail camera..this cat was smaller than the last one we saw this cat has been seen by several people that work on the farmthat we have been seeing for the last 7 years

my grandfather who owned a farm in northeastern missouri also had many stories of seeing cougars as well

I saw one about 9 years ago it followed me down a logging road about one mile when i walked back up the road there where prints in my foot prints

I live very near James A Reed wildlife refuge in SE Jackson county and I excercise and relax there very often. I’m pretty sure I saw a cougar there 3 years ago. I have also seen theri dung with fur in it.

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‎"At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, “thus far and no further.” If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, “If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour."